Like people have said, any job can get boring and programming is no exception (well maybe it's a JobNotCurrentlyRewardingException). The question is what you can do about it during those lulls in enthusiasm. Some ideas.

1. Learn more. There is more to programming than Java style OOP. Check out different paradigms like functional programming, the actor model, LISP's code as data approach, etc. See what their strengths and weaknesses are. See if you can adapt some of what they do in your current work.

2. Automate. Is there some tedious piece of your work you could automate? Sometimes building the software to automate a process can be a great learning experience, put you in a different frame of mind, and (if it works) give you a significant productivity boost.

3.Talk to your co-workers. Many people who code by day also code on their own pet projects and are more than happy to talk about it at length. You may learn something or their enthusiasm may rub off on you.

3. Have a personal project. Working on something you enjoy can remind you why you liked programming in the first place. It can also give you the opportunity to delve into topics that your day job just doesn't require.

4. Put your personal project aside and do something else If you are programming at work and then getting home and hacking away at night, it's only a matter of time before programming in general is going to get stale. Get into an activity that uses your body and different parts of your brain. Go for hikes or play a sport or try your hand at painting, gardening, woodworking, something other than being in front of a monitor (either laptop or tv).

It depends on a lot of parameters including your own personality. I work in order to pay my bills, I hate corporations but I have tons of things to pay. I prefer self management, I hate bosses, managers, people who know nothing about technical stuff and who want to give you lessons on how to get the job done. I try to find a not too much unpleasant job. I used JOGL for a long time in my previous one, it was really cool. Most of the time, I work on plain 2D GUIs in SWT/AWT/Swing, the most boring thing for me consists in fixing the bugs of other people most of my time. Code maintenance is important, it's nice to do it a bit, it's like putting your head into your own shit, it reminds you that if you write crappy code, you will have to fix it but when you spend most of your time in fixing bugs of other developers, they go on making crappy code, you have to fix more and more bugs, it's not very rewarding and they don't realize that their code is not of good quality, they don't mind, they make new features, they feel better and you feel worse everyday.

I prefer working with women

I agree with actual except about the very last point. The lack of sleep might drive you sad but programming doesn't get boring for me. I have just spent several days in porting LibGDX to JOGL 2.0 and it was really nice Xerxes can now use it with his Raspberry Pi. Of course, I like some other activities including sex I'm tired, I'm going to fall asleep. Some people can't focus on the same "tasks" for years whereas I can

As a SSE with 25+ years under my belt, yes It does get very boring. So boring that I've seen quite a few good software engineers get very disillusioned and switch careers after 3-5 years. What I tell the younger ones these days is that they should try to offset the boring day-to-day business software with a few of their own projects at home to help keep the passion/interest up. It can be anything, it just needs to be fun/interesting for them to tinker around with. This sort of thing is a common trait for those of us who have been in software for a long time.

Boring is only one problem with it though. It can severely lack in job satisfaction. Generally speaking, as a programmer, you will only ever hear people complaining to you, and about how crap your programs are. It is not nice. You will almost never be praised for making something that works. I almost regret my career as a software engineer of 20 odd years when I look back and think about just how little acknowledgement or reward there is in it.

Boring is only one problem with it though. It can severely lack in job satisfaction. Generally speaking, as a programmer, you will only ever hear people complaining to you, and about how crap your programs are. It is not nice. You will almost never be praised for making something that works. I almost regret my career as a software engineer of 20 odd years when I look back and think about just how little acknowledgement or reward there is in it.

Cas

I think a "technical artist" would be a more rewarding job. People see the result of your code and say "Wow, that looks cool."

Generally speaking, as a programmer, you will only ever hear people complaining to you, and about how crap your programs are. It is not nice. You will almost never be praised for making something that works.

To further re-iterate princec comment, the same thing applies to many other areas.

My last 2 jobs I've had, one as a facilities engineer(mechanical engineer) and the other as a Utilities Controls Engineer.

Both our department and individually no one ever got praised for doing anything good or correct. You only hear if something went wrong. You will need to learn to take in the fact, that if no one says anything that bad, as a pretty good sign.

Also, if you start giving others compliments and making the workplace fun for others, it also promotes others to do the same to you.

As a facilities engineer, I would do mechanical work for renovations of various scale, no one ever says, oh hey that mechanical engineer did a good job. Not even the architects always get praised. However the interior designers, often would get praised for picking a good wall paint color.

As any technical field, from engineering, computer science, to whatever else. Hopefully you are pursuing these jobs and hobbies because you genuinely are interested and enjoy solving problems and challenges. Always try and focus on self fulfillment about overcoming obstacles that are infront of you.

I occasionally do volunteer work, and the people who work super hard, and the people who just kinda mosey around and talk with people all usually get an abundant of appraise and 'good jobs' and 'thanks'. Though its all okay, cause everyone has fun.

If you need others to say good job to you all the time, then I'd advise looking into other fields, that have much more social and immediate interaction, or alternatively and possibly doing volunteering work(a lot of volunteers often get praised a lot more then they usually deserve).

edit: is there any reason this topic is in shameful chitchat and not under misc topics? I feel like its not a completely waste of conversation/comments?

It wouldn't be called work if it were fun all the time. The fun comes and goes. The longer you stay at a job, the more it goes. This is why it is good to switch jobs every 1-3 years. You meet more people and work on a wider variety of projects. Also you get the biggest pay raise from switching jobs because your current employer has less or zero incentive to give you a real bump -- you already work for them. Working as a contractor either for yourself or through an agency is one way to have relatively short term (0.5-1 year) jobs and keep things interesting. You'll also make slightly more and have no health insurance (in the US). Another way to do it is to go the homeless couch bum route. I haven't had health insurance for 2+ years.

Personally I haven't found that the job lacks rewards and recognition, if you are reasonable in what you expect. It's best to set limits for yourself so you don't overwork. You have to realize that overwork does not lead to greater rewards and recognition. If you do it, you have to be doing it for yourself. That is not recommended, I prefer to channel my extra energies into my own projects.

Not being offered a payrise when you say you're going to leave really rather cements the deal and confirms the opinions that you should probably expect your employers have of you: that you are a worthless, replaceable cog in a giant machine and your umpteen years of wisdom and continued happiness aren't worth shit. So treat them as they treat you: the moment conditions become remotely unfavourable, look in earnest elsewhere.

Agreed. Even if they offer you a raise, it is unlikely to be as much as you could get starting new elsewhere. Besides, you already need to change jobs to keep things interesting so there is no point in letting yourself get stuck doing the same work for small raises. Change is scary, so a lot of people end up doing it wrong.

Agreed. Even if they offer you a raise, it is unlikely to be as much as you could get starting new elsewhere. Besides, you already need to change jobs to keep things interesting so there is no point in letting yourself get stuck doing the same work for small raises. Change is scary, so a lot of people end up doing it wrong.

Agreed here too, but is it not also true that any good manager would also realize just that - an employee looking for another job probably isn't happy with what they do, and giving a pay raise might keep them there in the short term, but ultimately they'll still end up leaving?

I've had a manager offer to find me a position in another group doing work tangential to what I was currently doing, so I'd stay close and my domain experience wasn't completely lost. I thought that a clever alternative. No pay raise offer though, don't think we really had the money (or maybe he thought I just wasn't worth anything more ).

My last position I was in, for a little shy of 4 years. Most people in that position often stayed only 4 years.A few months prior to leaving, they came to me with the option of them making a 'new job position' with new salary and new responsibilities for me. 10% pay raise(in a department that hasn't seen even a 1% pay raise in over 4 years). They offered it to me, before I ever even mentioned leaving.

I took it, and stayed a bit longer. (Though I still believe I was underpaid)

Then not that long ago, I finally put in my notice in this new position, and the same day I put in my notice, (to pursue education and other things full time) My boss came back and offered me a different job, with 100% flexibility on schedule. I could choose to work between 0 and 20 hours a week, with no notice, and no set time structure. So that I could pursue education and other interests and only work there as needed.

Although I really want to leave/escape, and that is what I am doing, I think the multiple attempts to keep me, even partially and in various ways showed decent good bosses/leadership

Although I am moving on with my life now, I think there are good bosses and supervisors out there, and some do recognize talent and hardwork when they see it. Not all of them wait for you to say you are leaving to reward you, though that does seem to be the general trend. A few very rare ones out there, try to reward you prior to you leaving.

Definitively boring! Now I'm an Software Automation Engineer (showy title, isn't it?). I work with java and Selenium (Webdriver) to automate web application for testing purposes. As everything else first time is great (well maybe not everything... ) but after a year or 2 doing the same job everyday is really really boring. New applications appear to be automated but the task is always the same. Find that damm fields put data on it and make the application work. Write positive tests, write false tests, blah blah.

Work 9 hours a day closed in a room with artificial light 5 day a week, yes it's boring! But since I don't know anything else to earn money I have to lower my head and code code code and code.

Definitively boring! Now I'm an Software Automation Engineer (showy title, isn't it?). I work with java and Selenium (Webdriver) to automate web application for testing purposes. As everything else first time is great (well maybe not everything... ) but after a year or 2 doing the same job everyday is really really boring. New applications appear to be automated but the task is always the same. Find that damm fields put data on it and make the application work. Write positive tests, write false tests, blah blah.

Work 9 hours a day closed in a room with artificial light 5 day a week, yes it's boring! But since I don't know anything else to earn money I have to lower my head and code code code and code.

Request a room with a window or more 'open' or look for another software related job in the area??

java-gaming.org is not responsible for the content posted by its members, including references to external websites,
and other references that may or may not have a relation with our primarily
gaming and game production oriented community.
inquiries and complaints can be sent via email to the info‑account of the
company managing the website of java‑gaming.org